A Little Christmas Magic
by macsquish
Summary: SPOILERS: 5x09. His Christmas plans fell through, but even he did not think the day would end like this.


**Disclaimer**: Characters here are owned by the one and only Andrew W. Marlowe and the wonderful team of writers and producers, I'm just borrowing for a little while.

**Spoiler**: Season 5 Episode 9, Secret Santa (totally making up the case that is going to be in that episode and its ending though.)

* * *

December 24th.

To her, it meant a day of work, then a small dinner with her father.

To him, it meant the world.

The case wrapped itself up neatly, George McCaffrey's body had been turned over to the state since there was no next of kin to claim the body. A sad end to a tragic life, her partner had said before he turned to leave the precinct, brushing off any mention of spending time with him, not asking her to choose between him and her father. He had looked around him before kissing her softly beneath the mistletoe in front of the elevator. She watched him leave and looked back at the state of her murder board, almost empty, her blocky writing already wiped away, clearing the way for a new case. She boxed up the rest of the evidence and filed away the paperwork, she let her team go to spend time with their families, Ryan to have his first Christmas with his wife, Esposito slinking off to the OCME building to meet up with a particular Medical Examiner.

When the boxes had been safely archived, she stepped out into the snowy Christmas Eve night. She looked at her watch. 7PM. It looked like the weatherman on Channel 8 was wrong, it was going to be a white Christmas after all. It was time to perform a little Christmas magic of her own.

She stood before his door with her duffle bag was slung across her body. She breathed slowly, trying to calm her stomach which was performing somersaults. Using the key he had given her, she turned the silver handle. She slipped into his loft silently and froze.

It was beautiful. The loft was transformed from the mess she saw last. Tinsel was no longer spread across the room, but wrapped around the tall evergreen standing beside his grand piano. Gifts were wrapped and tucked beneath, begging to be shaken and opened. The strings of lights, finally untangled, were hung with care, brightly shining in the darkness of his apartment. Ornaments hung from the branches, some handmade, some store bought, that man standing in front of his oversized Christmas tree seemed to have kept it all.

He was beautiful, that stupid sentimental melancholic beautiful man staring off into space. Shadows danced across his rugged features as he shifted his weight between one bare foot to another in time to the soft strains of O Tannenbaum.

She gently put the duffle bag next to the door and kicked off her boots. She walked to him in her socks and kissed his cheek. He jumped, startled to be met by a pair of green eyes he didn't think he was going to see until the day after. She wrapped her arms around his neck, swaying with him.

"Kate."

"Hey Castle." She said softly, with a smile on her face. "The tree's gorgeous."

"Thanks." His blue eyes lit up, she couldn't help but widen her grin. "But I thought you… I mean… I-

"Dad and I will have our little chicken dinner tomorrow, then go light that candle for Mom at St. Andrew's. And if you'd like, you can come with me." Cupping his face with one hand, she looked into his eyes. She needed him to hear her. And she needed to hear it for herself. "Look, I might not be the world's best communicator, and you, of all people, know I can be a little stubborn, a little thick, sometimes, but that would never mean that I don't care about you, or your feelings."

"I know Kate."

"This thing between us is still pretty new. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, this new 'us', I think we both are. I just wanted to let you know that I'm really grateful that you're here with me, that you waited for me to be ready, and love me despite all of my flaws and faults, my insecurities. I love that you didn't force Alexis or your mother to stay home and spend Christmas Eve with you. Nor did you guilt me into stay with you on Christmas Eve. Castle, this is important to you, so it's important to me. We're in this together. We'll make time, we'll do this right. I'm not going anywhere. I can rearrange things as easily as you can. We'll make our own Christmas traditions, or meld together some of our old ones." His eyes misted over, his arms wrapped tighter around her, pulling her closer. She gave him that smile that only he saw, the one that made him melt and want to shout from the rooftops.

"We'll figure it out, this and all those other crazy holidays. Next year will be smoother, I promise." She said as her thumb stroked his cheek gently. "I love you."

"I love you too Kate." He grinned. He felt like his heart was about to burst. He leaned forward to kiss her then suddenly jerked back, looking at her. "Wait, hang on... are you're asking me to meet your Mom?"

"Yes, but I didn't mean you had to answer me at this very moment. Now shut up and kiss me."

"Okay."

A loud clatter at the door broke their embrace and as Castle walked towards it, the door opened, revealing his mother and his daughter carrying brown paper bags, their knitted hats covered with a layer of snow.

"Dad!" She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Hey Kate. Wow Dad, the tree looks fantastic all lit up like that."

"Alexis? Mother? What…" He looked stunned.

"Well Kate had asked if I could show her how to bake that chocolate soufflé we had the other day sometime." His mother took the groceries with her and floated to the kitchen, depositing her coat onto a nearby chair, gloves onto the counter. "I just finished dinner with my friends, they were just heading to a little jazz club a little later, so I thought why not we do that today? I feel this is a perfect time for it. Anyways, darling, you've always bragged about the girl's cooking, I might as well try some for myself and see what the fuss is all about."

"And Kate said she was whipping up something for Christmas since you guys finished so late, so I asked if I could join because I was starving at the raw vegan food place my friends took us to, she said yes. By the way, Kate, I picked up some baguettes, because bruschetta'll go great with that chicken parm you're making." She gave him a grin and followed her grandmother. "Plus, I want to see what you got me for Christmas, it must be something good since I didn't find it under the tree this morning. I need to go though at 11, got a Christmas party to get to."

"Thanks, you two. Martha! You're a lifesaver. I would never have figure it out on my own. And bruschetta's a brilliant idea, Alexis." Kate said from behind him. He turned to the Detective standing in front of the tree, looking completely satisfied with herself.

"This was your doing." He whispered, walking towards her. "Pity dinner."

"Oh buck up Writer boy. You should eat up because I have plans for you tonight." She said with a glint in her eye. Then she turned to the kitchen. "So Martha, when do we start on those soufflés?"

He grinned like a fool from his living room at the three women in the kitchen, then his eyes caught sight of the duffle bag Kate left at the door.

She was staying for Christmas.


End file.
